The Pomeranian Song — a song of home
The Pomeranian Song is one of the best-known pieces that, for generations, has connected people from Pomerania with their homeland. The text was written in the early 1850s: the theology student Gustav Adolf Pompe (1831–1889) composed the poem during his studies. Pompe was an Evangelical Lutheran theologian and poet; the Pomeranian Song became his most famous work and, over time, acquired symbolic meaning—especially for those displaced from their homes and for communities of Pomeranian heritage.
Musically, the text was set to the already popular melody of “Freiheit, die ich meine,” made known by Karl August Groos (1789–1861). This helped the song spread quickly and made it easy for choirs and local heritage societies to sing.
In the German Reich there were no official anthems at the provincial level. Songs like the Pomeranian Song primarily served cultural identity: they were sung in clubs, schools and at local festivities, but they had no legal status. Only with the federal structure of the Länder established after 1945/1949 did the conditions arise for officially recognized state or regional anthems—for example, the Bavarian anthem in 1946. In this sense the Pomeranian Song can be regarded as an unofficial regional anthem: a song that symbolically expresses attachment to home without ever having been formally recognized.
Next follows the Pomeranian Song: first in the original, then a literal translation, and finally a singable version.
Pomerania Song (Original – German)
- Wenn in stiller Stunde
Träume mich umwehn
bringen frohe Kunde
Geister ungesehn
Reden von dem Lande
meiner Heimat mir
Hellem Meeresstrande
düsterm Waldrevier - Weiße Segel fliegen
auf der blauen See
Weiße Möwen wiegen
sich in blauer Höh’
Blaue Wälder krönen
weißer Dünen Sand
Pommernland, mein Sehnen
ist dir zugewandt - Aus der Ferne wendet
sich zu dir mein Sinn
aus der Ferne sendet
trauten Gruß er hin;
Traget, laue Winde
meinen Gruß und Sang
wehet leis und linde
treuer Liebe Klang! - Bist ja doch das eine
in der ganzen Welt,
bist ja mein, ich deine,
treu dir zugesellt;
kannst ja doch von allen,
die ich je gesehn,
mir allein gefallen,
Pommerland, so schön! - Jetzt bin ich im Wandern,
bin bald hier, bald dort,
doch aus allen andern
treibt’s mich immer fort:
Bis in dir ich wieder
finde meine Ruh,
send ich meine Lieder
dir, o Heimat, zu!
Literal English translation
- When in a quiet hour
dreams breathe around me,
they bring joyful tidings,
spirits unseen,
speak to me of the land
of my homeland,
bright sea-shore,
gloomy forest domain. - White sails fly
on the blue sea,
white gulls rock
themselves in blue heights;
blue woods crown
white dune sand;
Pomerania, my yearning
is turned toward you. - From afar my mind turns to you,
from afar it sends
a faithful greeting;
carry, gentle winds,
my greeting and song,
blow softly and gently
the sound of faithful love! - You are indeed the one
in all the world,
you are mine, I am yours,
faithfully beside you;
you can, of all those
I have ever seen,
please me alone,
Pomerania, so beautiful! - Now I am wandering,
now here, now there,
yet from all the others
I am always driven away:
Until in you I again
find my rest,
I send my songs
to you, O homeland!
Singable English rendition
- When in silent hours soft dreams come near,
they bring sweet news from spirits I cannot hear;
they speak of that country my heart holds dear —
bright sea-washed shores and forests dark and sheer. - White sails are flying on the ocean blue,
white gulls are rocking in the high sky too;
blue woods put crowns on dunes of whitening sand —
Pomerania, longing turns to your strand! - From far away my thoughts turn back to you,
from far away I send a fond salute;
bear, gentle winds, my greeting and my song,
blow soft and low the love that has been strong. - You are the only one within my sight,
you are my own, I yours by loyal right;
of all I’ve seen on earth you charm me so —
Pomerania, fairest I have known to know. - Now I am roaming, now here, now I roam there,
from other places still my spirit fares;
till in your arms I find my resting place,
I send my songs to you, my homeland’s grace.